I got a spark from sports radio today. They were talking about how well Rowand has played this year, and that he looks like he's a legitimate every day player. And that this is a guy we've been trying to replace for the last three years, meanwhile he's light years better than our bonus-baby number one pick, Joe Borchard. The 5 tool talent from Stanford, compared to Mickey Mantle in raw power from both sides of the plate, rocket arm, can't-miss All Star, possible Hall of Famer if full potential is reached. And what's he batting .150? The guy sucks. He's all athlete and no ball player. Rowand has more homers in limited time this year than Borchard had playing every day at Charlotte.

The point is, he's been under our noses all this time while we've trying to replace him for three years. He's got more homers at the MLB level in limited time this year than Borchard had in Charlotte playing every day. Borchard's definitely got more ability than Rowand, but it's purely athletic. Rowand is close to having a .300 major league season while Borchard can't hit .200. Face it, Rowand is way better than Joe Borchard will ever be from the looks of it. Amazing.

The bigger point is, give more guys a chance. Why is it always the one guy who we keep banking on at a position? Borchard, Crede, Garland, Diaz, Rauch in the past. What about Josh Stewart? He had more success as a starter than Cotts and Diaz put together yet he hasn't been up here in a year and a half.

This is a crappy farm system and has been for ten years, you can't put too much blame on KW--he's been making trades with what he's been dealt in the farm system and he's thrown some of those guys into the big league mix and they haven't panned out: Ginter, Wright, Rauch, Diaz, Cotts, Garland, etc, etc, etc.

All those guys have great "stuff." All those guys "have a chance to be something special." But they all suck. I'm really starting to believe we've seen the best of Garland. All this time we wasted waiting for him to develop. I'm sick of this organization waiting on these guys that'll never be anything while we could've traded them when their value was high or given someone else in our system a chance. What we're seeing with Rowand, if he continues, is the prime example of how we should do business from now on: Give the job to the best performer and give everyone a chance. You can only pin your hopes on that big first round guy for so long before his time has passed.

Randar68

08-21-2004, 02:07 AM

I got a spark from sports radio today. They were talking about how well Rowand has played this year, and that he looks like he's a legitimate every day player. And that this is a guy we've been trying to replace for the last three years, meanwhile he's light years better than our bonus-baby number one pick, Joe Borchard. The 5 tool talent from Stanford, compared to Mickey Mantle in raw power from both sides of the plate, rocket arm, can't-miss All Star, possible Hall of Famer if full potential is reached. And what's he batting .150? The guy sucks. He's all athlete and no ball player. Rowand has more homers in limited time this year than Borchard had playing every day at Charlotte.

The point is, he's been under our noses all this time while we've trying to replace him for three years. He's got more homers at the MLB level in limited time this year than Borchard had in Charlotte playing every day. Borchard's definitely got more ability than Rowand, but it's purely athletic. Rowand is close to having a .300 major league season while Borchard can't hit .200. Face it, Rowand is way better than Joe Borchard will ever be from the looks of it. Amazing.

The bigger point is, give more guys a chance. Why is it always the one guy who we keep banking on at a position? Borchard, Crede, Garland, Diaz, Rauch in the past. What about Josh Stewart? He had more success as a starter than Cotts and Diaz put together yet he hasn't been up here in a year and a half.

This is a crappy farm system and has been for ten years, you can't put too much blame on KW--he's been making trades with what he's been dealt in the farm system and he's thrown some of those guys into the big league mix and they haven't panned out: Ginter, Wright, Rauch, Diaz, Cotts, Garland, etc, etc, etc.

All those guys have great "stuff." All those guys "have a chance to be something special." But they all suck. I'm really starting to believe we've seen the best of Garland. All this time we wasted waiting for him to develop. I'm sick of this organization waiting on these guys that'll never be anything while we could've traded them when their value was high or given someone else in our system a chance. What we're seeing with Rowand, if he continues, is the prime example of how we should do business from now on: Give the job to the best performer and give everyone a chance. You can only pin your hopes on that big first round guy for so long before his time has passed.nice rant, but try reality. Such as: Stewart is far less successful in AAA and has been since he was hit by the line drive and has never recovered fully. This is like the "Wunsch Effect".

If only things were as simple as armchair GM's made them out to be. Give those guys a chance? You mean like they did with Buehrle? Everyone gets a chance. The guys with more physical talent and athletic ability just get more of them. It's that way in every sport at every damned level. people need to get over it.